Wednesday, July 08, 2015

A good start on immigration, but....

Apparently, former Senator Clinton and Senators Feinstein and Boxer have condemned San Francisco's "sanctuary policy" because it is a big reason a career criminal was able to kill an innocent woman at a tourist attraction. OK, that's fine, though it doesn't seem to have convinced Senator Feinstein to, say, move away from the city that is imperiling the safety of so many. Must be nice to have full time bodyguards so you can keep your view of the Bay.

More importantly, there is another politician that needs to be condemned; one whose ICE department released 36007 criminals in 2013 alone, including criminals responsible for at least 193 murders. If the murder of one due to lax enforcement is worth a strong condemnation, then the murder of 193 ought to be worth impeachment and removal from office, no?

I won't be holding my breath, but reality is that immigration enforcement matters; the country has a right to ask for a background check before issuing work visas--really a responsibility. What is the consequence?

Well, a Senate investigation of convictions for federal crimes found that about 38% of those convicted in federal courts in 2013 were illegal immigrants, versus being probably about 3-5% of the population as a whole. Even if you eliminate drug possession (at 56% of convictions the dominant crime), one finds that about 20% of the non-drug possession convictions are by illegal immigrants.

Note: I do not share Powerline's Opinion that Donald Trump was right, especially inasmuch as he said that Mexico is "not sending their best and brightest." I've met far too many smart Mexican-Americans to go with that--it takes some doing to come north and learn how to cope with 20 below here in Minnesota. The link is for the crime rate information.
I'm all for immigration, but again, I would hope that both left and right can agree that a felony record ought to be a reason for denying or revoking the privilege of being in the U.S., and that politicians who allow ineligible people to remain here ought to be at least removed from office, if not imprisoned.